How does it work?

[asztalosdani]

Happy new year!

Thanks for this project, it looks promising. I would need some more information to check if it is right for me.
How does it work?

• How does it connect to my home assistant? Do I have to have public access? Or can I use VPN?

• How do I know if my obd reader will work with this project?

  if you want to use this cheap adapter, you should set the right connection protocol or have patience

  what does this mean?

• What benefits does a battery operated board give me?

• Some devices (e.g. SIM800L) can be bought with different ram sizes (4/8 MB). How much does this project need?

• How much mobile data does it consume?

  • Can I change how frequently is the data sent? Does it matter in terms of data usage if the data is sent less frequently in bigger batches or the bulk of the transmitted data is the data itself?

• Can it detect if the doors are locked? (it probably depends if my car exposes this information through OBD)

• Does it work with ignition off? I'm asking because I have a PHEV, so can it detect if the car is charging?

I think some of this information should be put in the readme.
Thanks in advance.

[adlerre]

Happy new year too!

How does it connect to my home assistant? Do I have to have public access? Or can I use VPN?

You need public access to your MQTT service or you can use a external MQTT provider.

How do I know if my obd reader will work with this project?

Try it. I have testet some and all dit work.

if you want to use this cheap adapter, you should set the right connection protocol or have patience
what does this mean?

It mean this "fake" reader are painfull slow. So you need to set the right protocol or you just wait. After auto-detection the used protocol is printed on console.

What benefits does a battery operated board give me?

Theoretical you can check obd without voltage on switched plus (15).

Some devices (e.g. SIM800L) can be bought with different ram sizes (4/8 MB). How much does this project need?

4MB it's enough.

How much mobile data does it consume?

It depends, with default profile and settings I need about 5MB at 100km.

Can I change how frequently is the data sent? Does it matter in terms of data usage if the data is sent less frequently in bigger batches or the bulk of the transmitted data is the data itself?

Yes, you can. You can set the inverals on webinterface.

Can it detect if the doors are locked? (it probably depends if my car exposes this information through OBD)

I think this needs a CAN connection to get this information.

Does it work with ignition off? I'm asking because I have a PHEV, so can it detect if the car is charging?

I don't know.

[thegabDE]

Some insights from me as well.

I am using an Opel Astra J from 2012 with EXZA HHOBD adapter (first version) and a LilyGo A7670-E with internal GPS (reporting as FASE). It is connected to the car trough normal USB plug in cigar port.

First I had issues getting the OBD reader to work but it was fixed switching to the NON-BLE image (else I could not find the OBD adapter). The version I used names 'T-A7670X-GPS-SHIELD' on the webinstaller page. Some guy at reddit r/homeassistant helped me. Also I had to upload the config for OBD again to connect to the OBD stick.

It is worth noting that WiFi connection does not work to send data to your MQTT broker - only celluar. René, do you know if the guys at MeatPi WiCAN Pro maybe have a different approach? They made it WiFi first and you can purchase additional celluar device to use both. Maybe this could help with this project. They also got VPN in the project.

Also please set a password for the AP (the one that names OBD2-MQTT-xxxxxx and reacts to 192.168.4.1). Else you could expose internal data. Maybe please add this as a note in the project, René.

Port forwarding is required with the specified port (maybe change the port of your MQTT provider). But I also highly prefer wireguard/tailscale or such things... Rene, please add this if possible.

Currently I am using a free 200 MB SIM card and it uses almost no data. In one week and ca. 400 km (plus all sensor on highest refresh rates) it consumed ca. 70 MB but there I also had a lot of trying to get it work ;)

I am sure it will not work with the ignition off. Normally the control units go to hibernate to save power (even on EV's) and OBD is not something that is needed permanently when the engine is off. It is for diagnosis only. Regarding charging status can't you use different method like measure the charging port at your house with some Shelly?

What is currently not working for me is GPS (only got location via GSM) and milage is not working (but it is also not working usint the OBD stick and AndrOBD either most likely as this data is from differnet ICU that the stick cannot access...). For GPS I think that I need to have the device on the open sky for way longer to catch GPS almanach data as I doubt that A-GPS is supported by the chipset. It reports: {"latitude":0,"longitude":0,"gps_accuracy":0}

[adlerre]

The version I used names 'T-A7670X-GPS-SHIELD' on the webinstaller page.

This firmware is used only for boards with this little extra board. If your board doesn't have this, use firmware "T-A7670X"

René, do you know if the guys at MeatPi WiCAN Pro maybe have a different approach?

I know this project, but never used it.

Port forwarding is required with the specified port (maybe change the port of your MQTT provider). But I also highly prefer wireguard/tailscale or such things... Rene, please add this if possible.

Supporting any type of VPN adds an extra layer of transport without increasing overall security.

In the event of a security breach (or theft of your device), an attacker might only be able to crash your Docker container running your MQTT server. With a VPN, however, they could cripple your entire network.

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